North Texas Preview and Game Thread -- 01-02-2021

[lusuperfan]

With all the questions regarding Uguak, I decided to comb through the past two seasons and analyze it. I wanted to try and be objective and decide whether he helps us or hurts us in tough games, and if so, in what games has it been a factor.

LOSSES

LEVEL 1 – BAD GAMES:
...

LEVEL 2 – AHER’S SO-SO GAMES
...

LEVEL 3 – GOOD GAMES BY AHER IN LOSSES
[/b]

...

WINS

LEVEL 9 - SPECTACULAR GAMES BY AHER IN WINS

2021 North Texas - 26 points - (57-49)
7 rebounds (4 O), 2 A, 8-12 FG, 2-3 3PT, 8-11 FT, 1 S, 1 TO. Won the game for Loyola even though shooting % was down somewhat from recent games.

This one belongs in the analysis.

He had another spectacular game against Indiana State maybe 2 years ago too. That night is the only other game on par with tonight. I would maybe include the Creighton game, which wasn't as impressive of a stat line but was against a really good opponent.

[01grad]

Obviously, what Uguak did tonight was impressive. What’s even more impressive is that he’s played 3 straight solid games in a row. I have no idea what’s gotten into him, but it’s awesome!

Give credit to North Texas because they play great, defensively, as a unit… But there is still no excuse for this team to only put up 57 points in a game. I have to say though, it was obvious that UNT game planned to try and shut down krutwig with double teams, and for the most part it worked. They seem like they are one offensive player away from being a really good team.

You can be mad at Hall, but we all know he historically a streaky player. He could come out next game and put up 24. It’s the weirdest thing.....

I don’t know what the right thing to do with Welch is. The problem is, even though he’s not a center... he does really well as a backup In a limited minute role.

Uguak is looking better, our free throws are looking better. We showed we can still win the game with a slowed down pace. We also showed we can win even when 3 of our starters go a combined 2-15 from the field. Things are looking up!

Just to give a bit of perspective to that 57 points, on an off-shooting night:

West Virginia, who will probably end up giving Gonzaga its closest game until the Tournament, losing 87-82, scored 62 against North Texas. And they were beating WVU 29-21 at halftime.

They also held Arkansas and Mississippi State to under 70. They’re a really, really good defensive team.

[Scream]

They not only doubled Krutwig, at the same time they aggressively defended the ball and the 3. We didn't have that many good looks or open passing lanes. Not sure how they did all that. The game reminded me of a winning pitcher on a night he didn't have his best stuff.

[Blers42]

Obviously, what Uguak did tonight was impressive. What’s even more impressive is that he’s played 3 straight solid games in a row. I have no idea what’s gotten into him, but it’s awesome!

Give credit to North Texas because they play great, defensively, as a unit… But there is still no excuse for this team to only put up 57 points in a game. I have to say though, it was obvious that UNT game planned to try and shut down krutwig with double teams, and for the most part it worked. They seem like they are one offensive player away from being a really good team.

You can be mad at Hall, but we all know he historically a streaky player. He could come out next game and put up 24. It’s the weirdest thing.....

I don’t know what the right thing to do with Welch is. The problem is, even though he’s not a center... he does really well as a backup In a limited minute role.

Uguak is looking better, our free throws are looking better. We showed we can still win the game with a slowed down pace. We also showed we can win even when 3 of our starters go a combined 2-15 from the field. Things are looking up!

Yes Hall is streaky, and that’s why he should be benched when he’s playing like trash all game. With our depth it doesn’t make any sense to me. I’d like to see Hutson get some more minutes for Krut when he’s tired and give Welch some minutes for Tate. It appears that Porter doesn’t trust Hutson yet though.

[ToledoRambler]

They not only doubled Krutwig, at the same time they aggressively defended the ball and the 3. We didn't have that many good looks or open passing lanes. Not sure how they did all that. The game reminded me of a winning pitcher on a night he didn't have his best stuff.

Couldn’t agree more that they play fantastic defense and played Krut well. Other teams should probably watch this game and take notes. With that being said ... Hall didn’t just miss 7 threes... he missed 7 wide open threes. We could have put them away and forced them off their game if some of those would have fell.

The problem with playing the way North Texas plays is that, you can keep the score low, but if you’re down by anything with 8 minutes left, you’ve got to change your plan and try to score quicker. They didn’t seem like the had any interest in doing that in the last 8 minutes.

[lusuperfan]

You can be mad at Hall, but we all know he historically a streaky player. He could come out next game and put up 24. It’s the weirdest thing.....

I don’t know what the right thing to do with Welch is. The problem is, even though he’s not a center... he does really well as a backup In a limited minute role.

He is streaky, but 2-11, 0-7 from 3 is brutal. We won this game despite Tate. We're too talented to win games despite poor performances. The playing time in any given game should be based on the hot hand, and Tate wasn't it tonight.

As for Welch, I think we can play him more minutes at the 4 with Krutwig on the court and still use him as Krutwig's backup for 8 minutes a game (until Frank comes back). That shouldn't be a problem considering it's a more natural position for him. It also goes back to the hot hand philosophy. Welch has certainly earned a spot on the court; he's yet to put up a dud performance this season. Tom was as productive as Tate tonight, and he did it with a third of Tate's minutes. Maybe there's a team chemistry/team internal politics going on considering Tate is a senior, but on paper, you can't justify Tate getting twice as many minutes as Tom this year.

[Blers]

So anytime we win a game are we just gonna complain about someone’s minutes now? Pretty sure this same convo has occurred about like 4 players now. We’re deep, not everyone can play in every game. it was talked about allllllllll offseason. I just want the team to play hard and win, and that’s what we’ve been getting.

Tate was a third team all valley player last year that was known to be streaky. His minutes also reflect a cold performance... he only played for 20 and Cooper got a lot more run in his place (20 minutes as well). Tate literally just had a real nice game last week against ISU.... he’s been in double figures 3 of the last 4 games before this... folks gotta R E L A X. I also thought he did great against Hamlet when switched onto him.

North Texas is an outstanding defensive team (orob on par with the best in the valley), and basically took everything we like to do away. Credit to em, but we found a way by defending even harder and having the one player they wanted to beat them (Aher) stepping up to the plate!!!

[Blers42]

So anytime we win a game are we just gonna complain about someone’s minutes now? Pretty sure this same convo has occurred about like 4 players now. We’re deep, not everyone can play in every game. it was talked about allllllllll offseason. I just want the team to play hard and win, and that’s what we’ve been getting.

Tate was a third team all valley player last year that was known to be streaky. His minutes also reflect a cold performance... he only played for 20 and Cooper got a lot more run in his place (20 minutes as well). Tate literally just had a real nice game last week against ISU.... he’s been in double figures 3 of the last 4 games before this... folks gotta R E L A X. I also thought he did great against Hamlet when switched onto him.

North Texas is an outstanding defensive team (orob on par with the best in the valley), and basically took everything we like to do away. Credit to em, but we found a way by defending even harder and having the one player they wanted to beat them (Aher) stepping up to the plate!!!

It just seems weird to not try more rotations out if someone is cold when it’s been stated by majority that this is the most depth Loyola has ever had.

[jmiller2794]

The North Texas game plan was to make Aher Uguak beat them and boy did he.

Re Tate: he had a brutal game tonight but you get to have those after you go all valley. Tom looks good and it’s a deep team but you have to let him work it out.

Also, everyone is assuming Tom is going to be more comfortable on the wing. I don’t see that. He seems more Aundre Jackson than Donte Ingram to me. I think he gets used as a small ball 5 and not a bully ball 4, as fun as a Lucas Tate uguak welch krutwig mega lineup might be before they got ran off the court.

[Blers]

I hear that, I just think that’s kinda what happened tonight. Cooper had a season high in minutes. Tate has the second least amount of minutes on the season... I’m not sure you wanna mess too much more with already established rotations. We went nine deep successfully against a real tough team.

I also agree on Tom as more of an Aundre Jackson type better shooter, not as crafty down low... good call there. His on ball defense/post game is still in need of some refinement. He’s had a few balls bounce right off his hands the last two games and I don’t think he was a good matchup tonight with North Texas’ size.